PIECES OF OUR PAST - THE LAURENS RAILROADS THAT COULD

 THE LAURENS RAILROADS THAT COULD

 

   The Oconee and Western Railroad had its beginnings in the mid-1880s as a tram road from Yonkers to Empire to Hawkinsville.  The Empire Lumber Company applied for a charter as the Empire and Dublin Railroad in 1888.  The incorporators were J.C. Anderson, J.W. Hightower, R.A. Anderson, W.A. Heath, N.E. Harris, and Y.H. Morgan.   Mr. Hatfield of New York supplied much of the capital and served as the first president.  Capt. J.W. Hightower was the general manager.  A.T. Bowers served as the first superintendent.  The road would run from Empire in western Dodge County to Dublin.  The principal office was established in Empire in Dodge County.  Eventually, a western leg would be constructed to Hawkinsville.  Within a short time, the company changed its name to reflect its future.  The new Oconee and Western Railroad headquartered its offices and shops in Empire at the junction of the Oconee and Western with the Georgia Railway.  The tracks reached Dublin in 1891 - the same year as the W. & T. and the M.D. and S. railroads.  The Hawkinsville leg was completed the next year connecting the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers.

    The 40-mile railroad ran from Hawkinsville northeast through Cypress to the headquarters at Empire.  From Empire, the road ran on through Alcorn's, Dexter, Springhaven, Vincent,  Hutchins, and Harlow before reaching Dublin.  The railroad was primarily a freight carrier because of the vast agricultural and timber resources in the area.  New markets were opened for the towns on the line and those at each end of the railroad as well.  

 

   From the beginning of the Wrightsville and Tennille Railroad, there were plans for westward expansion to Hawkinsville.  President and General  A.F. Daley announced the purchase of the Oconee and Western Railroad on November 9, 1898.  The sale was completed on February 1, 1899.  J.W. Hightower of Empire was elected as Vice President, E.J. Henry of Hawkinsville as treasurer, and W.N. Parson of Hawkinsville as secretary.  Other directors were W.A. Heath, J.E. Smith, Jr., and R.C. Henry, the latter two being from Dublin.  Master machinist Winter, Auditor Beaumas, General Manager England, and Conductor Williams lost their jobs.  Gen. Freight and Passenger agent, M.V. Mahoney, was retained by the new owner.

    

    Like the Oconee and Western the Dublin and Southwestern Railroad originated from a tram road.  The Williams Lumber Company had built a tram road from Eastman to Rentz where the mill of the Georgia Shingle Company was located.  By 1902 all of the available timber was located between the mill and Dublin.  The company decided that a new railroad could be built at only a slightly higher cost.  The original plan called for a railroad that would intersect the Macon, Dublin, and Savannah Railroad near the Dublin Cotton Mills in West Dublin.  Among the early backers of the project were the Macon, Dublin, and Savannah Railroad with Col. J.M. Stubbs being the driving force behind the project.  E.P. Rentz, a Dublin banker, owned a sawmill in Rentz and took a keen interest in the project, becoming the main owner.

    Grading began on March 2, 1904, near the cotton mills in Dublin under the supervision of E.P. Rentz and superintendent, Frank S. Battle.  The railroad's organizational meeting was held at the Citizens Bank on April 6, 1904.  E. P. Rentz was elected president.  J.J. Simpson and  W.D. Harper were elected as vice president and traffic manager/treasurer respectively.  William Prichett, J.M. Stubbs, and David S. Blackshear of Dublin were elected to the board of directors.  The first spikes were driven and the workers raced to complete the road to Rentz by mid-May.  

    The first scheduled train from Rentz to Dublin ran on June 29, 1904, with two daily trips to follow in July.  Engineer J.P. Pughesly immediately began laying out the road along the old tram road to Eastman while Col. J.M. Stubbs was seeking subscriptions from Eastman and Dodge County businessmen. Originally there was only a little interest in Dodge County but when McRae offered to buy into the road, the citizens of Dodge came through with the necessary capital.    Battle's crews began laying rails.  Construction was delayed by legal actions by some Eastman citizens.  General Manager W.J. Kessler moved the headquarters of the railroad to Eastman in May of 1905.  

    Conductor B.W. Hightower guided the first freight train out of Eastman on May 5, 1905.  E.P. Rentz, W.J. Kessler, and Supt. C.E. Rentz was aboard the inaugural train. Within a week the first load of freight was received in Eastman.  President E.P. Rentz arranged the inaugural passenger service to coincide with the May term of Dodge County Superior Court. The train left Dublin early in the morning of May 15, 1905, with attorneys and clients bound for the nine a.m. court on board.  Passenger service was born as the train arrived just in time for court.

    Rentz and his associates had done such a good job in building the road that the Wrightsville and Tennille became interested in the project.  Finally, after a year of offers, the W. & T. purchased the Dublin and Southwestern Railroad. The Wrightsville and Tennille made its new runs on July 1, 1906.  Thirty-five years later the story ends when the railroad and an era were closed forever.       

   

    Laurens County's sixth railroad ran into the extreme southeastern corner of the county.  The Wadley and Mt. Vernon Railroad originated at the Old Town Plantation of Capt. Thomas Jefferson James.  James and his convict crew of up to three thousand men built over six hundred miles of railroad.  Capt. James envisioned a railroad that would initially run from Wadley to Mt. Vernon.  He planned extensions northward to Augusta and Southward through Valdosta onto the Gulf Coast.  

    The Wadley and Mt. Vernon Railroad, later to be known as the Wadley Southern Railroad, ran from Wadley south through Kite, Tom, and Odomville to the junction with the Brewton and Pineora Railroad at Adrian.  Capt. James in moving his home to Adrian made that once non-existent community into a boom town and the headquarters of the railroad.  

    The railroad was completed to the Rockledge area around the turn of the 20th century.  Capt. James then extended the road to join with the newly constructed extension of the Macon, Dublin, and Savannah Railroad in 1902. Houses and businesses sprang up.  Rockledge boomed.  The new railroad gave the citizens of the area a closer route to the Central via Wadley.  Engineers laid out an extension of the line to Mt. Vernon.  Good times wouldn't last.  The railroad lived and breathed with the timber industry.  After twenty-five years there were no more trees to cut.  The road from Adrian to Rockledge was closed first and by the mid-twenties, the tracks along the Adrian-Wadley end were taken up forever.